Thursday, December 26, 2013

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell –OPTIONAL

 Rundell, Katherine Rooftoppers 288 pgs. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013. $13.53  Content: Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG; Violence: G.
Sophie was a lucky baby, she survives a shipwreck and is taken in by an eclectic fellow passenger/survivor. Her childhood in industrial England is far from typical as Charles is an unusual, wonderful, and creative man. When a welfare agency decides to take Sophie away, to an orphanage, the pair of them set out to find Sophie’s mother, presumed dead from the same shipwreck. They travel to France, where they find the government to be extremely unhelpful, but Sophie finds her own ways and develops friendships with orphan streetwise Rooftoppers.
While this was an extremely readable book, and quite quirky, I thought the main points of the plot would be confusing to students. Such as the insurance scam that resulted in the shipwreck, and many others, thus the reason for the government reluctance to help. There were some inappropriate things for a school library as well, such as Sophie being given a shot of whiskey to help her cope with bad news and several suggestions about a man being inappropriate to raise a girl child.

EL –OPTIONAL Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.

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